Charleston Yogi

Recently, I received a complaint from a student about the music choice I had chosen for savasana. I had never received a complaint before about my playlists, but this one had said it was not yogic. The song, granted, could be seen as offensive (which I warned the class prior to playing it) but the message was positive and needed, in my opinion, to be shared with the class. The songs I play in my classes are not the soft music with Tibetan bowls or anything played by Krishna Das. My music is typically music I like and associate with. Currently this is a lot of indie rock and a lot of these songs are loud and fast. Occasionally I will throw in some hip hop or a playlist dedicated to 90’s alternative music. But the idea that a song is not yogic to me is ludicrous. Its not the music, the beat or the meaning that is important. Its the focus one has toward the music.

This brought up an interesting topic that is usually overlooked in our practice. That is music’s place in yoga classes. Traditionalists could say that there shouldn’t be any music. Contemporaries could say use it as it adds to the flow of the class. When I started out teaching, I believed in the former and that music deserved no place. Yoga needed a place to be sacred and nature is the most sacred sound. Today though, I see it completely different. Music should be used as it enhances our practice and actually challenges us further.

Yoga has the ability to allow our minds to focus. This actually is a much harder task than even the hardest of poses or sequences. Think of your mind as a muscle and focusing on one object for a certain time requires constant practice. This exercise is often in combat with our monkey mind and any thoughts that pop up to interrupt our practice. An hour yoga class becomes rather difficult to focus the entire time but constant effort and practice allow this focus to sharpen itself.

There are two ways to focus during a class. The first is to focus on one thing. This could be an intention, your breath or your movement in your poses. The idea is to never leave your mat and allow all other distractions to not even be a concern. The second way to focus is to accept and welcome the entire environment around you and allow yourself to move freely through it. It may seem like a farce to say to focus on your environment, but allowing yourself to use all five senses to equally take in everything and be amazed by your surroundings is a way to shift your attention to the present. All distractions than are natural and cease to become distractions. Focus itself than is either attention on one thing or all things.

Music itself than becomes a way to hone your focus. Whichever focus is chosen, music can play a part. If the chosen focus is to concentrate on one point, music is a challenge to not focus on it. Think of meditating. Meditating is great when it is completely silent but a struggle when there are tons of outside noises that can distract. Is life silent? Does the world stop making noises when you want to sit? The answers are no. Meditation and focus require a challenge of sorts to keep us strong in what we want to focus on. Music than becomes a challenge to maintain we keep our focus, so that it may make us stronger in our practice. On the other hand if the focus is drawn to the equality of five senses and the present, music becomes part of our environment. When this occurs, the beat gets into our head and the music takes us. We become a part of the song and it lifts us to whatever feeling it is giving us, whether it is slow or fast.

Usually, I offer a choice of songs for savasana. I ask the class “Happy or beautiful?” These refer to two songs I absolutely love and fit perfectly for final relaxation. They are Sigur Ros’ Festival and Ara Batur. These songs emit the wonderful feelings for finishing a great class. It was these two songs that made me want to use music the way I do and without apology. Songs can lift us, move us and put us in places we are uncomfortable with. It seems like yoga and music are similar in that fashion. Why wouldn’t they be shared together?

Harry Dinwiddie will be exploring mixing music, yoga and art as he will be teaching a new class at Eye Level Art at 103 Spring St. Tuesday nights at 6:30 starting Feb 16.

The alarm rings and I barely stir.  My muscles are sore, still tired and though the sun is starting to come out all I want to do is bury my head in the covers.  I am instantly faced with a choice and this decision will determine the course of everything. 
I have come to realize that choosing ‘comfort’ rarely leads to it, but only makes me more uncomfortable.  As I unroll my mat I start to wonder what the next hour and ½ will bring.  Will I be able to do it?  Will they ask me to do something difficult, or worse yet something that I don’t want to do?  And then I smile, knowing that choosing authentic development is a harsh mistress, indeed.  The things I fear will always be hurled right in my path and I know the answer is ‘yes’ to all of the above.  I will again be faced with a choice and this decision will determine the course of everything.  
We have been in warrior II for at least a minute.  My legs are starting to shake, I want to give up, and then he says ‘are you breathing?’….oh, right I forgot about that part.  The minute I inhale that sweet dose of oxygen, I feel everything release and I move into a place of ease.  He walks up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders, moving them down a few inches.  My neck and shoulder blades begin to release and I wonder how I didn’t even realize how hard they were working?  Why is it that trying so hard is, well…so hard?  It was only four years ago in this very class that I began to discover that resistance is so much more difficult than surrender.  That trying to be perfect at every asana was so much more difficult than allowing myself to melt into it with ease.  Many of us consistently move through our day with absolute confidence that we are actually in charge.  We fool ourselves into thinking that we consciously know what ‘perfection’ is and that we can attain it whenever we want. 
This practice is based on the premise of cultivating awareness of where we are in relation to time, space, and the continuum of development.  I am always grateful to reach that perfect balance in class when I am pushed far enough to be uncomfortable, while simultaneously given enough time to be present inside of my head, alone with my thoughts even for just a few seconds.  In the middle of this struggle I am challenged to be still in the face of the internal chaos.  As I am confronted with the limits of my abilities, I am also given the opportunity to witness how interested I truly am in development.  When I focus on where I am and where I want to be, I know I have to ‘mind the gap’ between what I know and how I am living.  The practice isn’t over when I roll up my mat and walk out of the studio.  It is only just beginning.  I know that I will be given hundreds of opportunities to close the gap between what I know and how I am walking my talk, and the choice that I make in that moment will determine everything.

 
Amy Jo Gengler, LAc
Re-Soul Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicine

843.566.2855

www.re-soul.com

All of us have been shocked and saddened by the news of a devastating earthquake that struck the nation of Haiti on Tuesday, January 12th. Reports estimate that 3 million people have been affected, with as many as 100,000 feared dead. Many people have been wondering how they can help respond to this tragedy and ease the suffering of Haiti.

On Wednesday, January 20th from 6 to 8 PM, a benefit yoga class will be offered at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. A $10 donation at the door is suggested. All proceeds from the class will go to Partners in Health, an agency that has been working on the ground in Haiti for over 20 years. Your donations will go towards vital medical care desperately needed by those impacted by the earthquake.

Yoga, more than just a form of exercise, is a tool for creating harmony, compassion, and peace – both within ourselves and in the world we share. No prior yoga experience is necessary. There will also be a time for quiet meditation and prayer for those affected by this tragedy.

The class will be taught by Matthew Foley, a Yoga Alliance Certified Instructor. Music will be provided by DJ Anwar Staggers.

For more information, please contact Matthew Foley at (803)361-3842 or foleym@cofc.edu.

$10 Donation Suggested

I’ve subbed quite a few classes over the years and have been quite surprised when the students were asked what yoga was.  They answered “Postures; a way to relax; a snack made from fermented milk and bacteria cultures?”  It’s difficult sometimes to determine the true purpose of doing something.  “I’m working at _____________to get money for rent, kids, to make the world a better place, to get out of the house, etc”.

There are many reasons for doing something.  The practices of yoga, however, spells it out for us: yoga=union.  śrī Brahmananda Saraswati defines yoga as “The state of missing nothing.”  Once we unite things we are no longer able to tell them apart.  Through the consistent application of the principles of yoga, we will find that happiness and peace extend beyond our daily yoga class, perhaps beyond the gross physical into the subtle energetic, emotional, and mental.  So if that is your purpose for practicing yoga, read on.

We may practice asana.  Asana purifies karma: past actions.  The process then requires us not to create the same karma we purged ourselves of.  Otherwise, it is like going to the gym and burning 500 calories, then immediately eating a snack which contains 500 calories.  We don’t get anywhere.  We want to purify more karma than we create, or at least create less harmful karma. ie: by eating vegetables instead of other sentient beings.  How can we expect to reach a state of union, eternal bliss, when we deprive others of happiness by seeing them as ours to eat?  It’s no coincidence that yoga practitioners who adopt a vegetarian diet are more flexible than meat eaters.

śrī K. Pattabhi Jois, the aṣṭāṇga yoga guru, when questioned on the subject of meat eating and yoga:
Questioner: “Some yoga teachers say that a vegetarian diet is not necessary.”
Guruji: (laughing) “Oh… a new method!”
Q: “Many Indians and Westerners eat meat.”
Guruji: ”They are not practicing yoga.  Meat eating makes you stiff.”
Q: “What is the most important Yogic practice in this time?”
Guruji:  “Vegetarian diet is the most important practice for Yoga.”

महर्षि पतञ्जलि योग सूत्र ।१।
अहिंसा प्रतिष्ठायां तत् संनिधौ वैर त्यागः॥३५॥
Maharṣi Patañjali Yoga Sūtra |1|
ahiṁsā pratiṣṭhāyāṁ tat saṁnidhau vaira tyāgaḥ ||35||
When in the presence of one firmly established in non violence, all hostilities cease.

If we have not yet reached the goal of yoga and still perceive others, the Yama are guidelines as to how we must treat them to maintain the serenity of our minds.  Master Patañjali gives the first limb of the eight limbed path of Yoga as Yama: that which we do to others.  Ahimsa, or non-harming, is the first practice of the first limb.

All our yoga practices must, if we still believe in the goal of yoga, be based upon a solid scriptural source.  We cannot simply create or disregard that which is inconvenient.  If I wish to bake a chocolate cake (vegan, of course) I cannot leave out the sugar simply because I don’t have it.  The result will not be the same as if I used it.  These sutra are also commonly translated and manipulated to suit us: “I practice ahimsa toward myself, I don’t want to hurt myself, so I eat meat.”  What!?  Meat itself is harmful, both spiritually, as our bodies become the graves of murdered beings, and physically, as our bodies are not suited for meat consumption.  Further, there is no nutrient necessary to our survival that can only be gained from the consumption of meat.

Master Patañjali gives the first two limbs as: Yama-Restraints, that which we do to others and Niyama-Observances, that which we do to ourselves ie: cleanliness, contentment…  After introducing each Yama specifically ie. ahiṁsā, he then gives the benefit to the sadhak (spiritual practitioner) pratiṣṭhāyāṁ tat saṁnidhau vaira tyāgaḥ.  This would be redundant if the Yama were indeed practices we do to ourselves.  With this in mind we could turn it into the negative:  One who is firmly established in violence or who causes violence to be performed will continuously encounter violence.
 
The Ethic of Reciprocity states “Do not do to others what you would not like to be done to you.”  This is actually an evolution of the commonly known Golden Rule.  Every wisdom tradition has a similar version.

We get closer to Yoga when we realize that if we do something to another it will eventually come back to us. Keeping this in mind we strive to practice compassion in our food choices by choosing not to contribute to the suffering of others.  We attain Yoga when we realize there are no others.

We may not practice Asana every day but we eat every day, sometimes more than once.  Our fork can be a weapon of mass destruction.

ॐ शान्ति शान्ति शान्तिः
om śānti śānti śāntiḥ

Mark Knowles
Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher
www.bahamayogi.com
843.991.2272

Hello and welcome to CharlestonYogi.com!  We are so excited to introduce this resource to the Lowcountry yoga community, and are happy that you found us!  Are you ready to enhance your yoga lifestyle?

We both know how quickly those day planners can fill up, and how easy it can be to let your yoga regimine slip through the cracks.  That is why we created this site: to make finding the right yoga class at the right time as quick and easy as possible!

So go ahead–click around, see what we have to offer! Not only does Charleston Yogi unite all local studio schedules into one, but we are also here to educate!  We want you to know all about the latest yoga trends and don’t want you to miss out on any exciting yoga events this city has to offer.  And be sure to check back regularly, as we’ll be filling your brains with tips, secrets, recipes and stories  from our local health, fitness and yoga experts who will be blogging with us! 

New to yoga and nervous to give it a try? That’s okay!  We’re here to help!  Under “Yoga Basics” you’ll find everything you need to know to get started!  From descriptions of the different styles of yoga to what to bring to your first class…it’s all in there!  We’ve even included a list of studios that offer free community classes or a free class for first-timers.  By taking advantage of these opportunities, you can explore the Charleston yoga community and find the style of yoga that is right for you without a dime out of your pocket!

So whether you’re a regular yoga junkie, a newbie, or even just a health nut, this is the site for you!  A stronger, healthier and more peaceful you is just a click away!

Peace, love and yoga,

Kara and Megan